Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by New Wave Biotech is the first biotech-specific life cycle assessment tool integrated directly with process simulation and techno-economic analysis (TEA). Designed for biomanufacturing teams, it calculates environmental impact from actual process parameters — equipment settings, raw materials, energy sources, and production scale — rather than generic inventory data. This means every change to the process is immediately reflected in the sustainability results, making the LCA genuinely actionable rather than a retrospective reporting exercise.

The platform is built for Sustainability Directors, R&D Directors, Operations Leaders, and Net Zero and ESG teams who need to evaluate process decisions across performance, cost, and environmental impact simultaneously — before resources are committed to experiments or scale-up.

Understanding Your Environmental Impact

• View environmental impact broken down per unit operation, identifying which processing steps drive the most emissions, energy consumption, water use, or waste generation
• Identify hotspots by raw material, production stage, transport, and cleaning operations
• Analyse contributions across more than 15 impact categories, going well beyond greenhouse gas emissions alone
• Apply a cradle-to-gate, ISO 14040/44-aligned methodology that satisfies the depth expected by procurement teams, auditors, and regulators

Environmental Impact Categories Covered

• GHG Emissions
• Energy Use
• Water Use
• Land Use
• Waste
• Freshwater Eutrophication
• Marine Eutrophication
• Terrestrial Eutrophication
• Ozone Depletion
• Acidification
• Ionising Radiation
• Ecotoxicity
• Photochemical Oxidant Formation
• Carcinogenic Human Toxicity
• Non-Carcinogenic Human Toxicity
• Material Resources

Acting with Foresight: What-If Scenario Testing

• Compare alternative downstream processing (DSP) routes and view the effect on GHG emissions, energy, water, and cost side by side
• Switch between carbon sources, solvents, or media formulations and see the sustainability impact of each choice instantly
• Model the same process in different geographies to understand how energy grid carbon intensity affects the total environmental footprint
• Analyse the impact of changing production scale, operating parameters, or equipment configurations on sustainability outcomes
• Evaluate sustainability, cost, and yield trade-offs together, aligning R&D, operations, and sustainability teams around a single shared dataset
• Run scenario comparisons in minutes rather than months, because the LCA is directly connected to the process model

How It Compares to Existing Tools

• Standard bioprocess software focuses on yield and feasibility but offers limited impact categories and no integrated sustainability or cost analysis
• Conventional LCA software covers 15+ impact categories for environmental reporting but lacks unit operation detail, cost integration, and biotech-specific modelling — and relies on generic inventory data
• New Wave Biotech's platform combines process simulation, 15+ impact categories, cost and sustainability integration, process-parameter-level detail, and biotech-specific methodology to deliver decision dashboards that identify the best option across all dimensions

Who Uses This Platform

• Sustainability Directors — Engage with sustainability impact from the first simulation rather than waiting for a finished process, and generate data suitable for Board reporting and CSRD audits
• R&D Directors — LCA runs automatically from the process model with no separate tools or LCA specialists required; every optimisation cycle surfaces the environmental impact of options being evaluated
• Operations Leaders — Compare the economics and sustainability of process changes side by side to understand what a solvent switch or equipment change means for both budget and carbon footprint
• Net Zero and ESG Teams — Access ISO 14040/44-aligned methodology with 15+ impact categories mapped to actual bioprocess parameters, providing the granularity needed for carbon accounting and CSRD compliance

Case Study: Liven Proteins — Collagen Production Route Comparison

1. Liven Proteins develops plant-based collagen for food and nutraceutical applications and needed to compare production routes across yield, cost, and environmental impact simultaneously
2. New Wave Biotech ran hundreds of thousands of simulations to predict production output, techno-economic performance, and full LCA results including energy and waste
3. Four optimised processing scenarios were delivered, benchmarked against alternative production methods, with sustainability scenario analyses covering ingredient sourcing, transport options, and production locations in parallel
4. The outcome enabled Liven Proteins to weigh up process and sourcing options with sustainability and cost presented side by side, clarifying where the two aligned and where trade-offs existed

New Wave Biotech's Life Cycle Assessment is delivered as part of an integrated bioprocess development platform, combining AI-powered insights with process simulation and techno-economic analysis. The ISO 14040/44-aligned methodology and 15+ impact categories provide the rigour required for regulatory compliance, CSRD reporting, and procurement scrutiny, while the direct connection to process parameters ensures results remain specific to each organisation's actual operations rather than industry-wide averages.